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MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Marianas Variety, April 30) — Two I-Kiribati men who were lost at sea for nearly three weeks left for home from Majuro Thursday on the Kiribati government’s patrol vessel, Te-Inoai.

Brothers Tiriako and Aruee Kabeunare survived a 20-day ordeal at sea after they were knocked off course by heavy rains and winds as they attempted to make the 90-mile open ocean trip from Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, to Abemama Atoll in a 16-foot wooden boat with a 30-horsepower engine.

They said the weather was clear when they left Tarawa on March 7, but after several hours on the sea they encountered an unexpected squall, with high winds and a strong current that pushed them more than 70 miles off course.

When the rain let up, they judged from using their global positioning system monitor that they were too far from Abemama to get there with their remaining fuel. So they chose to drift in hopes that by saving their remaining few liters of gas, they...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, April 30) - On the day that the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission was to decide on the purchase by Pacific Telecom Inc. of Verizon Pacifica, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Gov. Juan N. Babauta lost no time in blasting once more the virtual monopoly held by Verizon, during his State of the Commonwealth Address yesterday.

In one of his most applauded statements during his 48-minute speech which focused on "systemic changes" his government has made and still plan to do, Babauta vowed to break, specifically, the company’s monopoly over a fiber optic cable between CNMI and Guam.

He said because there was no competition in the local telecommunication industry, calls are expensive to make even among the islands. This monopoly, he added, has driven away would-be investors specifically in call centers. This situation, the governor decribed as "anti-business."

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, May 3) - For the first time in Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas history, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held its proceedings at the courtroom of the CNMI Supreme Court Friday-the last working day before it loses jurisdiction over the CNMI judiciary.

The Ninth Circuit's Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder, Senior Judges J. Clifford Wallace and Alfred T. Goodwin will be among the special guests to the Judicial Branch Commemorative Celebration to mark the CNMI Supreme Court's independence from the U.S. Court of Appeals beginning today.

Officially, though, the Ninth Circuit has lost its appellate jurisdiction over the CNMI judiciary since yesterday. As such, the CNMI Supreme Court is now the highest court in the Commonwealth. An appeal from the CNMI Supreme Court's decision may be brought only before the U.S. Supreme Court, which reportedly has a high percentage of denying petitions for judicial review....

Babauta lauded the Coastal Resources Management, the Division of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources for the success of the CNMI's recycling program.

According to the governor, in efforts to continue the cleanup activities of the government, plans are now on the works on how runoff from the Dai-Ichi drainage in Garapan could be controlled.

"Controlling the runoff is our next large-scale cleanup that is under design," said Babauta.

He added that planning also began for the new Cultural Museum on the site once the drainage improvements are completed. The Cultural Museum will be an important part of the Garapan Economic Revitalization Plan that is hoped to give the CNMI an...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (April 30) — The Bush administration’s lack of response to a petition from the Marshall Islands for more nuclear test compensation is "discouraging," Foreign Minister Gerald Zackios said in an interview Wednesday.

Despite the delays in gaining Bush administration action, the Marshall Islands is moving ahead with its lobbying effort with U.S. congressional staff in an effort to get action on a petition that has been with the Congress for more than three and a half years, and with the Bush administration for more than two years.

In March 2002, U.S. congressional leaders asked the Bush administration to review the petition calling for additional nuclear test compensation before Congress held hearings.

The Marshall Islands was ground zero for 67 nuclear weapons tests from 1946 to 1958.

Although the United States provided $270 million in compensation in a Compact of Free Association...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, May 3) - Some 998 delegates are gathered this week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the quadrennial General Conference of the worldwide United Methodist Church, according to Ray Lehman Jr., lay leader of the Saipan Immanuel United Methodist Church.

The conference, which is being held from April 27 to May 7 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, will consider 1,611 petitions. Among the petitions is the body's support for an CNMI representative to the U.S. Congress.

As the highest legislative body of the 9 million-member denomination, the once-every-four-years General Conference consists of delegates from the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe. It sets the programmatic directions for the church and establishes guidelines on how church structures operate and are administered.

Among the so-called people of the Book, the Bible, Methodists treasure their Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions as critical documents in the...

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, April 23) - Hawaii-based Safari Aviation is working on arrangements to launch its freight plane service between the Samoas, a local representative said.

John MacDonald, who had been local manager for Samoa Air, said other plans include extending the cargo service to include Tonga.

He said that Safari has already submitted an application to operate here.

Safari already has permission to launch flights between Tutuila (Pago Pago) and the Manu’a Islands in American Samoa and is expected to begin services there soon. It is working on operating combination passenger-cargo flights on this route.

Safari Aviation’s CASA 212 aircraft is expected to be used for the inter-Samoa freight flights, Mr MacDonald said.

This Spanish-built aircraft is used by some countries as a military transport plane. It has big rear doors and can carry airline cargo containers or even a motor vehicle.

WAILUKU, Maui (April 30) - The 2004 Legislature, which has a week to run, has certainly had no shortage of political drama, particularly when viewed from a Neighbor Island perspective.

The Republican governor set education reform as her No. 1 priority and pointed the way with a proposed major overhaul of the basic structure of the state's educational system. The Legislature, dominated by Democrats, decided education reform could be accomplished by basically leaving the existing structure alone.

Along the way, the news out of the state Senate and House of Representatives and from the top floor of the Capitol has been a series of charges and countercharges. The keystone of the governor's plan was approval of a voter referendum on establishing local school boards. The Legislature, which had favored a similar measure in 2002, dug in its heels and listened to the state's educational...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.